The Gallant John Joe

The Gallant John Joe

Don’t miss this opportunity to see the internationally treasured Tom Hickey perform his celebrated role in Tom MacIntyre’s The Gallant John Joe.

The Hickey/ MacIntyre collaborations are an integral part of Irish theatrical history. Together they are responsible for some of the most ground-breaking new writing and performance seen on the Abbey stage. Their celebrated collaborations include The Great Hunger, Rise Up Lovely Sweeney, Sheeps Milk on the Boil, and What Happened Bridgie Cleary.

The Gallant John-Joe was first premiered in 2001, receiving multiple award nominations and critical acclaim on both sides of the Atlantic.

It is the soliloquy of a Cavan widower grappling with increasing physical and mental infirmity. What keeps him on his feet is his capacity to tell stories, to make a story out of anything that moves, using language as a crutch, ointment, talisman, intoxicant. In his stories he introduces us to the characters in his life: Bossman, his well-to-do patronising friend, The Hitmatist; The Chinee; John-Joe O'Reilly, captain of the conquering Cavan team of the late 1940's, and Jacinta, his teenage daughter.

Tom MacIntyre’s work - whatever the genre - is marked by a willingness to experiment formally, focusing consistently on the rigours, excitement and elusive magic of the journey. In the creak of the door between our mundane world and "the other side" lies the note that haunts him.

'A mournfully delicate elegy for a simpler world… This is complex, satisfying theatre, played by Tom Hickey with intense emotion, superb technique, and apparently deep understanding of both thesis and text.'